By LEWIS KAMB, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, July 31, 2003

A federal judge in Seattle yesterday rejected a citizen opposition group's claims that the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe inadequately considered noise pollution, air quality and other environmental impacts when planning the White River Amphitheatre.

In granting summary judgment in favor of the tribe and its partners in the concert venue near Auburn, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour essentially agreed with the tribe's argument that it properly assessed such effects on the community.

"In all respects," Coughenour wrote in his 14-page ruling, the project's required impact statement and analysis "satisfy the rule of reason ... of the probable environmental consequences of the proposed White River Amphitheatre."

Coughenour's ruling was his second in the past four months rejecting the claims by Citizens for Safety and Environment against the amphitheater.

In March, the judge knocked down claims by the group of Auburn and Enumclaw area residents that federal agencies approved construction of the amphitheater without adequately considering its impact on traffic.

Rollin Fatland, a spokesman for Clear Channel Entertainment, which operates the amphitheater for the Muckleshoot Tribe, called Coughenour's ruling yesterday "a total victory."

"It's a validation of the process the tribe and Clear Channel went through in planning the amphitheater," Fatland said.

A lawyer representing the citizens group said his clients are considering an appeal.

Seattle attorney David Bricklin added that Coughenour's ruling is "not very meaningful" in that the claims raised by his clients were based upon the amphitheater's projected impact before the venue actually opened.

In terms of actual traffic, noise pollution and other effects that the venue has had during the half-dozen concerts held there since it opened in June, "the amphitheater's failing the reality test," Bricklin said.

Fatland strongly disputed that, noting that local police officers and city officials have consistently said the amphitheater is not causing traffic or other problems.

"This group has sued over the White River Amphitheatre on numerous occasions, and they've lost every time," Fatland said. "I don't know when they say, 'uncle,' but I think it's about time."

Not yet, according to Bricklin.

In addition to potentially appealing Coughenour's decision, the group still has a lawsuit pending in King County Superior Court against the state Transportation Department.

The suit asserts that the department shouldn't have granted a permit to allow access to the amphitheater site from a state highway.